A Russian ‘revolution’ Down Under
THE first-ever Limmud FSU (former Soviet Union) festival in Australia was held last weekend, with around 200 people descending on Lorne, Victoria for two days of Russian-Jewish culture, identity, learning and family fun.
The event featured a host of local and international presenters and guests who spoke on a range of topics in both English and Russian, including Limmud FSU founder and chair Chaim Chesler, Israeli TV personality Gil Hovav, jazz pianist Leonid Ptashka and Ukrainian-born actor Gary Cherkassky, among others.
It followed an event in Sydney last Friday night, held in conjunction with the Limmud festival, in which nearly 150 Russian Jews came together for a Russian-style Shabbat dinner with live entertainment at Bondi Beach.
Speaking to The AJN this week, Chesler, who founded Limmud FSU in 2006, described the event arriving in Australia as a “great revolution”, adding: “There’s no continuity without joining the Russian [community].
“We need to get them before it’s too late.”
Member for Caulfield David Southwick and Zionist Federation of Australia president Danny Lamm were also among the guest speakers at the event.
Lamm said Limmud FSU “brings together an eclectic audience that isn’t necessarily engaged in the community”, and said it would be a springboard for activity with the Russian-Jewish community “that we are so desperate to engage in the wider Jewish community”.
“Be it in Melbourne, be it in Sydney … there is a tremendous potential for talent,” he said. “We want to engage the whole community.”
Limmud FSU Australia organising committee chair Sasha Klyachkina, the Jewish Agency for Israel’s shlichah for Russian-speaking Jewry in Australia, said the event was “very successful”.
“About two years ago, when I was sitting with [Limmud FSU executive director] Roman Kogan in a coffee shop in Jerusalem and talking about bringing Limmud FSU to Australia, it sounded nice but not very realistic,” she admitted.
“Bringing a few hundred Russian Jews to one place for a Jewish event seemed like a great fantasy, but here we are and we have participants from the age of two weeks to 75 years old.”
For full coverage, see this week’s AJN.
EVAN ZLATKIS
Attendees at Australia’s first Limmud FSU.
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